A topnotch WordPress.com site

Fear of the Great Unknown

OVERVIEW

A recent headline in the Wall Street Journal finds that America has become risk averse. The once bold Yankee ingenuity is now afraid of taking chances, taking big risks, and bold steps. This comes as the top 1% refuses to share the wealth with the 99% in the middle class since about 1973. Keeping the multitudes on such a short lease may be good for profits, but it certainly isn’t good for America. The American Dream that the next generation will do better than the current one is being sorely put to the test. When the middle class is put on a treadmill that spins faster and faster, less time is available for new ideas to work their way into the mix. Progress is stifled along with social mobility in the workplace. Instead of taking each person seriously and valuing their thoughts, we fall back on the dismissive medieval notions of that’s some particular person’s son or daughter, so how can they end up any better than their parents?

BARRIERS TO ACCEPTANCE

Some people hear you and are unimaginative and condescending and dismissive. Others listen intently, ask probing questions, and share there own stories in ways that perfectly match the teachable moment for instruction. But without any reinforcement, these concepts are left hanging out there unattached to the real world of the colleague. When they have heard the ideas several times they may finally begin to believe them. When they are presented new contexts to understand the ideas in, it helps triangulate the position of the ideas. When they start using the ideas in their own practice, real progress begins. But then they need reinforcement and correction to keep from stumbling over the “apparent” inconsistencies. I say “apparent” in quotes because in the decades of my work in this area the inconsistencies often disappear into understandings of the nuances of the concepts. When you start becoming conversant with the new ideas, corollaries start becoming easier and easier to recognize and accept. The main proposal is so clear that the leftover pieces of the puzzle start having obvious explanations among the older establishment type ideas.

REFLECTIONS

Getting my story out is a lot like the parable of the seeds in the bible.
This is a parable from the gospel of Matthew 13 New Living Translation (NLT): “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

Paraphrasing the above:
A peace economics teacher went out to show and teach some ideas. Some ideas were absorbed by the students only to be forgotten when the next teacher said something contradictory. Others were welcomed and left a glow on the students face but were not remembered one year later. Other ideas were growing until other experts and teachers argued forcefully for other interpretations and approaches. Some learned their lessons well and starting seeing the new patterns in everything they watched and heard about for years to come.

THE UNKNOWN

When you step outside someone’s given world framework, you often get blank stares. If this someone imagines themselves well educated you can run up against snobbery and condescension. These were common occurrences for me until I joined MENSA. Then I found that some people are easy to talk to about wide ranging topics with mutual understanding. It just depends on who you are with. Even in academic circles you find these two types of people. Some people are afraid of venturing outside of their academic disciplines, departments, and institutions. They want to channel you in certain pre prescribed ways and put you into certain categories. Some people want to destroy your ego and replace it with their own ideas. Others are open to the adventurous souls who challenge everyone around them. In management theory these two mindsets are organic or mechanistic. Organic organizations are inherently more creative, mechanistic organizations are more soul destroying.

Hint: to read this paper for free, you must click on the tiny word “read” in the middle of the bottom of the screen after you go to the above link on academia.edu.

Dr. Peace, Dr. Bob Reuschlein, Real Economy Institute
best contact to ask Bob to speak to your group: bobreuschlein@gmail.com
to leave message: 608-230-6640
for more info: http://www.realeconomy.com
(Real Economy and/or Peace Economics free pdf on request by members of the press)
An archive of this yearlong press release campaign can be found here!